Venezuelan official Alex Saab, a former businessman and close ally of captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, was arrested in the Latin American country on Wednesday as part of a joint operation between the U.S. and Venezuela, according to a U.S. law enforcement official.

Saab, 54, who had previously been held in the U.S., is expected to be extradited to the U.S. in the coming days, the U.S. official told Reuters.

A lawyer for Saab, Luigi Giuliano, was cited in the Colombian newspaper El Espectador later on Wednesday, denying the arrest as “fake news.” Journalists aligned with Venezuela’s government also made social media posts denying that Saab had been arrested.

Giuliano told Venezuelan news site TalCual that Saab may make an appearance to refute the arrest allegations himself but was consulting with the government about what had happened.

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Venezuela’s top lawmaker, Jorge Rodríguez, did not confirm or deny the reports during a press conference, saying he had no information concerning the possible arrest.

This comes after the U.S. operation to attack Venezuela and arrest Maduro, and the Trump administration’s subsequent seizing of oil tankers from the country.

Saab’s arrest would suggest a new level of collaboration between U.S. and Venezuelan authorities under the government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy, who currently controls Venezuela’s law enforcement agencies and actions.

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The U.S. official highlighted the significance of Rodriguez’s cooperation in the joint operation.

Raul Gorrin, the head of Venezuela’s Globovision TV network, was also arrested in the operation, the official said.

Saab, who was born in Colombia, was previously detained in the African nation of Cape Verde in 2020 and held in the U.S. for more than three years on bribery charges. He was eventually granted clemency in exchange for the release of Americans held in Venezuela.

Before he was granted clemency, U.S. officials had charged Saab with taking around $350 million out of Venezuela through the U.S. as part of a bribery scheme connected to Venezuela’s state-controlled exchange rate.

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Saab denied the allegations and appealed to have the charges dismissed on grounds of diplomatic immunity. An appeals court had not ruled on Saab’s appeal by the time the prisoner swap went through.

When he returned to Venezuela at the end of 2023, Maduro praised Saab’s loyalty to the country’s socialist revolution and called him a national hero.

Maduro later appointed Saab as industry minister, a position he held until last month, when he was dismissed by Rodriguez following the arrest of the country’s former leader.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The charge marks the first instance of an individual being prosecuted for this specific offence in Western Australia.

Australian authorities have declared an attempted bombing at an Indigenous rights rally in Perth last month “an act of terror”, charging a 31-year-old man with one of the most serious offences in the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

The Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) said in a press statement on Thursday that the man removed a “home-made improvised explosive device” from his bag and threw it into a crowd at a rally in Perth’s Central Business District on January 26.

The device failed to detonate, and no casualties were reported among the several thousand people who attended the rally, held in support of First Nations people. The event was part of a series of nationwide “Invasion Day” protests organised to advocate for Indigenous rights and to protest against the historical dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

If found guilty, the man could face life imprisonment under the country’s law.

The police said the man will remain in custody until his next court appearance, set for February 17 at the Perth Magistrates Court.

Western Australia Premier Roger Cook, speaking at a news conference on Thursday, urged people to condemn such incidents.

“This charge … alleges the attack on Aboriginal people and other peaceful protesters was motivated by hateful, racist ideology,” he said. “This is the first time this charge has been laid in Western Australia.”

‘An attack on all Australians’

On Tuesday, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy condemned the incident, characterising the attempted bombing as an assault on Australian social cohesion.

“The Albanese Government condemns this sickening and abhorrent incident,” she said in a Senate statement, Indigenous News Australia reported. “An attack on First Nations Australians is an attack on all Australians. First Nations Australians, like all Australians, must be able to gather peacefully without fearing for our safety. There is no place for hate, intimidation or racism of any form in Australia.”

The JCTT said in its statement that to secure a “terrorism” conviction under the criminal code, authorities must prove three specific legal components.

First, the action must cause or threaten serious consequences, such as harm to human life, damage to property, or a significant risk to public safety. Second, the act must be motivated by the intention to advance a political, religious, or ideological cause. Finally, the action must be intended to coerce a government or intimidate the public, or a specific section of the population.

The targeting of the rally occurred as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to face recorded inequalities in healthcare, education, and imprisonment rates, as well as a history of being targeted by racially motivated crimes in Australia.

In December 2022, Australian authorities were forced to confront what experts described as “deeply entrenched” racism following the alleged murder of 15-year-old Indigenous boy Cassius Turvey.

Cassius, a member of the Noongar Nation in Western Australia, was walking home from school with friends when he was subjected to an unprovoked assault with a metal pole. The incident, termed by police as a “vicious attack“, resulted in injuries that led to his death 10 days later.